With the Supercross now in Tampa, it's officially go time for the 250 East Region. From Tom Vialle, Nate Thrasher, R.J. Hampshire, Levi Kitchen, and another half dozen riders, this might be one of the most highly contested 250 Supercross Championships in the sport's history. The scheduling is wonky in 2025, with stints of two, three, and then four weeks with byes in the middle (including two showdown rounds ahead of the third and final in Salt Lake City). There are tons of outcomes for this coast, and fans should be very excited about the level of competition here.
Meanwhile, the news that dominated the sport this week was the worst-case scenario with defending 450 Champion Jett Lawrence. A torn ACL (plus meniscus damage) has knocked him out for the rest of Supercross at the bare minimum, and we got very close to a serious Eli Tomac injury on a botched dab in practice on Saturday. Yamaha said he was good to go about an hour out from gate drop, but as you can see for yourself below, this looked rough in real time. So yeah, outside of that, pretty normal start to the weekend.
Daytime Program/Injury Notes:
- Other injury news: Cameron McAdoo is riding on a torn ACL, Dylan Ferrandis was out this weekend due to a midweek practice crash, and Cade Clason suffered a broken wrist on Saturday.
- We objectively shouldn't have Supercross tracks producing laps times under the 55 second range under any circumstances. Not in my America.
- Christian Craig was suposed to make his season debut this week, but that's probably a couple of weeks out now at most by the sounds of it.
- 250 Fastest Qualifier: No. 31 Max Anstie (54.827) (Anstie and Hampshire were nearly a second faster than anyone else, with Seth Hammaker ending up in third)
- 450 Fastest Qualifier: No. 4 Chase Sexton (54:179)
Heat Racing Recap
Right off the bat we got to see some Hampshire vs. Vialle action right at the front, but Cameron McAdoo quickly got in the middle, and along with the Husqvarna rider, dropped the entire field. Further on back, an under the weather Austin Forkner had some tight moments, but was able to gut things out for a seventh. Sadly, a Carter Stephenson finish jump crash brought out a late red flag, in which the big loser was Pierce Brown, who was on FIRE in his first race with Star Yamaha. He'd end up in third after Carson Mumford gave him the standup sppecial in the second corner on the restart. Max Anstie would take home the win all the meanwhile.
450 Heat racing didnt' exactly start on a high note. Eli Tomac certainly looked well off of 100 percent, and Hunter Lawrence took a hard lick off the the side of the finish jump leadup. Cooper Webb took home the first of these Premier Class heats, but obviously not the primary takeaway. Chase Sexton denied the Star Yamaha rig of a Heat Sweep after he blitzed by Justin Cooper with a 3-3-1 before the section leading into the whoops. Ken Roczen also had to do some digging to get into a transfer spot after going down in corner one, and went after the wrong rider postrace who caused it. Benny Bloss was just minding his own business.
250 East Recap
1st) No. 31 Max Anstie (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
We've seen Anstie do good in this class in recent years on non-Star Yamaha bikes, and now he struck first blood on the best bike platform in the class. Not how he'd want to win given that it was his teammate Pierce Brown who went down hard to give him the lead back, but as long as things like Birmingham from last year don't happen, he's going to be in contention for a ton of podiums this year I reckon.
3rd) No. 50 Cameron McAdoo (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki)
The sooner you accept that McAdoo has indestructible anatomy, the easier it is to understand how he can have rides like last night on an old ACL tear. He was essentially right on Anstie's pace for the back half of that Main Event but didn't have the greatest start. Even if this one wasn't red-flagged for Brown, McAdoo likely finishes third no matter what, but a third after the week he's had is no joke. Plus, he mentally knows he can compete with this stacked field of riders for a title.
17th) No. 83 Austin Forkner (Triumph Factory Racing)
At least now we can say that bad luck does indeed travel. A seventh or eighth battling the flu would've been a solid first round for Forkner, but Cullin Park had other things in mind for the dozen-plus-time Main Event winner. We saw one bad round right off the bat, which did not ruin things for guys last year, so if you're Forkner, that's the spin to put on Tampa.
18th) No. 24 R.J. Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory)
Would it be wrong to say getting stuck on a cylindrical tuff block for well north of a minute doesn't even crack the top five for R.J. Hampshire's wackiest moments? Also, why is it necessary to have it on track when that has 100 percent happened to riders? Either way, it ruined R.J.'s night, as he was a lap down on that restart and essentially was out there to log laps. It's not a season-ender by any stretch, but it's certainly a night where you're asking "how" when he realistically could've been running 8th-5th.
DNF) No. 20 Pierce Brown (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
I went back and watched the beginning of this one, and I don't think it's unfair to say Brown was a tad uncomfortable in the whoops or didn't get a good bead on them. You see him lose the backend before crashing, but he also did that when he went for the lead on Anstie on lap one as well. Hopefully, the neck brace the Medic Unit put on him was precautionary because that was as rough a place to go down as it gets. Shame, too; Brown looked really fast when he had the chance to run out front on Saturday.
250 East Tampa Top 10 (Plus Points Standings After Round 1)
1st No. 31 Max Anstie (25 Points)
2nd No. 34 Daxton Bennick (17 Points. 5 Point dock for jumping a Red Cross Flag)
3rd No. 50 Cameron McAdoo (20 Points)
4th No. 56 Seth Hammaker (18 Points)
5th No. 1 Tom Vialle (17 Points)
6th No. 10 Chance Hymas (16 Points)
7th No. 59 Cullin Park (15 Points)
8th No. 41 Nate Thrasher (14 Points)
9th No. 47 Levi Kitchen (13 Points)
10th No. 60 Carson Mumford (12 Points)
450 Recap
1st) No. 27 Malcolm Stewart (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing)
If you ever want to show someone why Supercross is the best motorsport on the planet. Give them context on Malcolm Stewart's 450 career, hit play on this Main Event, and let the video and audio tell the rest. Legitimately one of the best feel-good moments in the sport's history, and despite not being the biggest crowd you've ever seen, Tampa was LOUD for Mookie for the entirety of that charge up to the front.
That 2-3 into the whoops was insanely good, and quite frankly, I don't know why more guys weren't doing it, but his best pass through was nearly ONE FULL SECOND FASTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. Outside of that, I have nothing else. Over the moon happy for Malcolm and the fact he finally got one on the big stage. Here's to hoping this isn't just a one-and-done, and he can be a player in this title fight now.
2nd) No. 2 Cooper Webb (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Quiet as it may be kept, Webb sneakily had as close to as good a night as Mookie as possible from a long-view standpoint. Tomac and Sexton have their health in question, Roczen hemorrhaged points (more on that later), and Jett is obviously out of things now, on a night where you put yourself just five points out of the red plate with your third podium of the season. It was a very solid run tonight, even with the extra help, and this is not a guy I'd want to have appearing larger in the rearview mirror as we move along.
5th) No. 4 Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM)
Sexton is going to be doing cartwheels when the 2026 schedule drops and Tampa is off because Raymond James Stadium has been an absolute house of horrors for him. Two straight trips, a last-moment crash took him out of a win, and if the final two minutes of this one were any indication, he looked notably banged up. He still has the points lead, which is a gigantic plus, but he must say to himself, "not again."
17th) No. 3 Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
In a matter of about six hours, we went from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1 with Tomac on Saturday. Whatever we saw was nowhere close to "fine", as a source told Lewis Phillips going into the night show. Six (very close to seven) riders averaged lap times north of five seconds faster than the No. 3, and it took him 11 laps to get to 19th. While I don't want to outright speculate, it's hard to watch Tomac's ride on Saturday and think whatever is ailing him isn't notably worse than what was let on. Watch this guy try to WALK, let alone ride, and tell me he's fine if your in his or Yamaha's camp.
21th) No. 94 Ken Roczen (HEP Progressive/Ecstar Suzuki)
It's fantastic that it's 2025, and there's somehow NOTHING WE CAN DO to prevent lap traffic from getting out of the way and not running side-by-side when the leaders are closing in. It's borderline criminal that Ken Roczen, who did nothing wrong (outside of being mean to Benny Bloss after the heats) walked out of that stadium getting one (1) point to show for what should've been a podium ride. If only there was SOMETHING WE COULD DO TO PREVENT LAPPERS FROM TURNING TRACKS INTO THREE LANE RUSH-HOUR TRAFFIC!!!!
450 Class Tampa Top 10
1st No. 27 Malcolm Stewart
2nd No. 2 Cooper Webb
3rd No. 21 Jason Anderson
4th No. 32 Justin Cooper
5th No. 4 Chase Sexton
6th No. 51 Justin Barcia
7th No. 17 Joey Savatgy
8th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger
9th No. 12 Shane McElrath
10th No. 46 Justin Hill
450 Points Standings After Tampa
1st No. 4 Chase Sexton (101 Points)
2nd No. 2 Cooper Webb (96 Points)
3rd No. 21 Jason Anderson (84 Points)
4th No. 94 Ken Roczen (83 Points)
5th No. 3 Eli Tomac (80 Points)
6th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart (77 Points)
7th No. 1 Jett Lawrence (71 Points)
8th No. 32 Justin Cooper (69 Points) (NIce)
9th No. 51 Justin Barcia (68 Points)
10th No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (62 Points)
Tampa LitKit: Everyone who wasn't a Star Yamaha 250 Class Rider by Default
Main Image via Husqvarna